Imagining the Divine: Art and the Rise of World Religions

19 Oct-18 Feb. This exhibition takes a comprehensive look at the artistic portrayal of the deities of world religions and how their depictions have changed - in some cases drastically - over the centuries.

Posing questions such as why we think of Jesus Christ with a beard, or Buddha as cross-legged, the exhibition showcases how an exchange of ideas in the first millennium has influenced our modern-day perception of the world's major religions – Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam and Judaism.

The exhibition, which contains the first known depiction of Christ north of the Alps and some of the first surviving Qurans, has been described by classicist Mary Beard as: "Unmissable... a fascinating journey through the art of religions from India to Ireland."